A French judge ruled Tuesday to shut down a Paris exhibition of real human bodies from China, saying that exhibiting dead bodies for profit is a "violation of the respect owed to them."

"Under the law, the proper place for corpses is in the cemetery," said Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard.

Raingeard ordered the exhibition, "Our Body: the Universe Within," to close within 24 hours or face a fine of 20,000 euros (over 26,000 dollars) for each day it stays open. The judge also ordered authorities to seize the 17 bodies on display and all of the organs on display from an unknown amount of people for proper burial....